The two Surrey schools competing at the B.C. High School Boys 4A Basketball Championship have both advanced to the quarterfinal round with one-sided victories.
The Tamanawis Wildcats romped past the Mt. Baker Wild 105-39 Wednesday night at the Langley Events Centre (LEC), while earlier in the day the Holy Cross Crusaders cruised past the Cowichan Thunderbirds 91-56.
The Wildcats, ranked number one in the B.C. rankings, scored better than 30 points in each of the first two quarters and led 68-16 at halftime. Only in the first quarter, when the Wild scored 10 points, did the Cranbrook team score in double digits.
All eleven Tamanawis players who played scored points, led by Sukhjot Bains with 20 points, Harjot Grewal with 16, Sukhman Sandhu with 15 and Sukhraj Biring with 11. Bains and Harnoor Sangha grabbed 10 rebounds apiece.
Earlier in the day, third-ranked Holy Cross pulled away from the Thunderbirds in the second quarter and went on to win the school's first-ever game at a provincial tournament at the highest level.
The Crusaders led by just four points after one quarter, but any hope of a Cowichan upset faded by halftime as Holy Cross outscored the Thunderbirds 26-13 in the second period for a 42-25 lead at the break. The lead grew to 24 at three-quarter time.
Jonathon Kongbo scored 24 points and added nine rebounds to pace the Crusaders attack. Taylor Browne and Jauquin Bennett-Boire netted 19 points each, and Bright Dododza contributed a double double with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
The Crusaders will play the seventh-ranked Vancouver College Fighting Irish tonight (Thursday) at 8 p.m. at the LEC, while Tamanawis will go up against the 10th-ranked Burnaby South Rebels at 4:30 p.m.